Illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have set up 16 villages in South Mizoram's Lunglei district, the Assembly was informed Friday.

There were nine more such villages set up illegally by people who had entered the state without valid documents, Local Administration Minister K Lalrinliana said. Of the nine villages, four were set up in Aizawl district, followed by three in Champhai bordering Myanmar, and two in Mamit bordering Tripura, he said while replying to a query from C Lalsawivunga of the Zoram People's Movement.

Besides people from Bangladesh, illegal immigrants from Myanmar, Manipur and Tripura also reside in these nine villages, officials said. Officials as well as student leaders, who had earlier conducted study of the border areas, claimed that those entered the state from Bangladesh belonged to the Chakma community.